3D Studio Max, Maya and Softimage… for free????

 

Well if you are a student that is, yes!  Autodesk has made an absolute ton of their programs available on a 36 month license for students.  That said, there is a very big but… and we will get to it in a moment.  First off, here are the applications they made available:

 

AutoCAD®
AutoCAD® for Mac
AutoCAD® Civil 3D®
AutoCAD® Electrical
Autodesk® Alias® Design
Autodesk® Alias® Automotive**
Autodesk® Ecotect® Analysis
Autodesk® Inventor® Professional
Autodesk® Maya®

Autodesk® Moldflow® Adviser
Autodesk® Mudbox™
Autodesk® Revit® Architecture
Autodesk® Revit® MEP
Autodesk® Revit® Structure
Autodesk® Simulation Multiphysics 
Autodesk® Smoke®
Autodesk® Softimage®
Autodesk® 3ds Max®

That is a pretty awesome list and making them available to students for free is an absolutely brilliant idea for locking in future users down the road.  Now here are the buts…

 

If you are creating a game, you are violating the license.  This license is explicitly for personal learning.  The personal part even excludes use in a lab or classroom environments, however more to the point, if you want to use the software to work on a game that is going to be distributed ( even freely ) you are violating the license!  If you use the software to create graphics for a website, you are violating the license.  In a nutshell, legally, you can only use the software to learn or post your works to Autodesk’s community.  Now posting your work to a 3rd party like DeviantArt for non-commercial gain, I do not know the legal status of that.

 

As to who qualifies as a student, I will let Autodesk themselves answer that.

 

A faculty member is an employee at a primary or secondary educational institution or any degree-granting or certificate-granting educational institution or any learning, teaching or training facilities and who upon request by Autodesk is able to provide proof of such status.

A student is an individual enrolled at a recognized degree-granting or certificate-granting educational institution for three (3) or more credit hours in a degree-granting or certificate granting education program or in a nine (9) month or longer certificate program, and upon request by Autodesk is able to provide proof of such enrollment.

An Autodesk Assistance Program participant is either a veteran or unemployed individual who has previously worked in the architecture, engineering, design or manufacturing industries, completed the online registration for the Autodesk Assistance Program, and upon request by Autodesk is able to provide proof of eligibility for that program.

 

 

So if you are thinking the cost of your game just went way down because you are a student, you are completely wrong.  However, if you wanted easy free access to learn and evaluate various Autodesk products, you will love this opportunity.

Applications


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